Sunday, June 12, 2016

This is Socialism

The necessity for the Socialist Party still exists to arouse the passive and apathetic from their political slumber, to point the way to industrial and social harmony. There can be no slackening of effort in the rigorous denunciation of the terrible evils arising from capitalism and competition with its development of greed and its burden of toil. The Socialist Party must agitate, agitate, and agitate. Socialists must condemn the competitive profit system. We must advocate the industrial commonwealth founded upon the common ownership and collective control of the world’s wealth and resources, and economic system whereas the planners and managers, workers allocate resources and democratically determine priorities themselves. It is easy to see how the capitalist world is a world that is topsy-turvy.

Socialism is based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production and distribution, upon production for use as against production for profit, upon the abolition of all classes, all class divisions, class privilege, class rule, upon the production of such abundance that the struggle for material needs is completely eliminated, so that humanity, at last, freed from economic exploitation, from oppression, from any form of coercion by a state machine, can devote itself to its fullest intellectual and cultural development. Much can perhaps be added to this definition, but anything less you can call whatever you wish, but it will not be socialism. Socialism has unfortunately been presented as a system not of abundance but of scarcity, as a system not of increased leisure and comfort, but of unusual sacrifice and back-breaking toil. Socialism for us, yesterday, today, tomorrow always means the end of class rule; the end of class privilege; the freeing of the people from all chains and all coercion, the fullest realisation of democracy, the emancipation of men, women and children with abundance for all, and therefore liberty for all. If the working class does not take into its own hands the power to achieve this new social order, it will pay the penalty of its own destruction. We, the people, must take over society, remould it, reshape it, in the interests of the people, on a rational basis; otherwise, society will decay into barbarism. It will mean our ruin.

In socialism, States, territories, or provinces will exist only as geographical expressions, and have no existence as sources of governmental power, though they may well be seats of administrative bodies. Society is a global society. National boundaries and divisions will disappear and give way to a universal human identity. Socialist society is a society free of religion, superstitious beliefs, ideology and archaic traditions and moralities that strangle free thought. The political State of capitalism has no place under Socialism. The disappearance of classes and class antagonisms makes the state superfluous. In socialist society, the state withers away. Socialist society is a society without a State. The administrative affairs of the society will be managed by the cooperation, consensus and collective decision-making of all of its members. Common ownership must not be confused with public ownership. In public ownership, the State or local political body is master of the production. The workers are not masters of their work, they are commanded by the State officials, who are leading and directing production. Whatever may be the condition of labour, however, human and considerate the treatment, the fundamental fact is that not the workers themselves, but the officials, dispose of the product, manage the entire process. In short, the workers still receive wages, a share of the product determined by masters. Under public ownership of the means of production, the workers are still subjected to and exploited by a ruling class. Common ownership by the producers can be the only goal of the working class.

To change the world and to create a better one is the aspiration of the Socialist Party. We hold a deep-rooted belief in the possibility of a better future, free of today's inequalities, hardships and deprivations. We believe unshakably that people can, individually and collectively, influence the shape of the world to come. We need to start building a socialist alternative now. This is what we in the Socialist Party are trying to do. This will not be an easy task, but achieving it carries the promise of a transformation of society. However, the Socialist Party are not a bunch of utopian reformers and heroic saviours of humanity. We’re not know-it-alls but part of a movement that reflects the vision and ideals of socialism the revolutionary movement of the working class for overthrowing the capitalist system and creating a new society without classes and exploitation.

The socialist revolution is the abolition of private ownership of the means of production and their conversion into common ownership of the whole society. Socialist revolution puts an end to the class division of society and abolishes the wage-labour system. Thus, market, exchange of commodities, and money disappear. Production for profit is replaced by production to meet people's needs and to bring about greater prosperity for all. Work, which in a capitalist society for the overwhelming majority is an involuntary, tedious drudgery to earn a living, gives way to voluntary, creative and conscious activity to enrich human life. Everyone, by virtue of being a human being and being born into human society, will be equally entitled to all of life's resources and the products of collective effort. From everyone according to their ability, to everyone according to their need — this is a basic principle of socialism.

Socialism is not a dream or utopia. All the conditions for the formation of such a society have already created within the capitalist world itself. The scientific, technological and productive powers of humanity have already grown so enormously that founding a society committed to the well-being of all is perfectly feasible. The spectacular advances in communication and information technology have meant that the organisation of a world community with collective participation in the design, planning and execution of society's diverse functions is possible more than ever before. A large part of these resources is now either wasted in different ways or is even deliberately used to hinder efforts to improve society and satisfy human needs. But for all the immensity of society's material resources, the backbone of socialist society is the creative and living power of billions of men and women beings freed from class bondage, wage-slavery, intellectual slavery, alienation and degradation. The free human being is the guarantee for the realisation of a functioning socialist society. Socialism is not a utopia. It is the goal and will result from the struggle of an immense social class against capitalism. Capitalism itself has created the great social force that can materialise this liberating prospect. The staggering power of capital on a global scale is a reflection of the power of a world working class. Unlike other oppressed classes in the history of human society, the working class cannot set itself free without freeing the whole of humanity. Socialism is the product of workers' revolution to put an end to the system of wage-slavery; a social revolution which inevitably transforms the entire foundation of the production relations.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reading your contribution to the 'Excellent Video' thread. Have you not thought of resigning from the Socialist Party and joining these people? You have urged a name change, selling no.52 and putting the Standard wholly online.It seems you are determined that the SP should hand in it's political resignation which, given what kind of organisation it is these days wouldn't be a bad idea. So, all power to you!

ajohnstone said...

This is a blog of the Edinburgh and Glasgow branches of the Socialist Party. Where exactly on this blog, or any other blog published on the internet under the name of the Socialist Party, has such proposals ever been made? Does any such suggestions appear in the above article which you have felt a need to add a extraneous comment, for instance?

The Socialist Party is proud of its democracy and its facilities for internal debate and discussion and has various forums where individual members can raise issues and matters and exchange views and opinions with other members. And that is exactly what they are, personal perspectives, until the Party goes through a political decision-making process on any possible proposals for change to the way the Socialist Party conducts its business and campaign for socialism.

Or do you advocate suppression of dissenting voices regards to how we act and present ourselves in public and the imposition of some sort of a party-line when it comes to debate and discussion within the Socialist Party?

In future, please take your concerns about a blogger's relationship to the Socialist Party and its future to the appropriate forum webpage where i am sure your contribution will receive the fuller response that you seek. In future, please restrict your comments on this blog to the content posted on this blog.